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Contents
1 The Debate About the Consequences of Job Displacement ... 1
1.1 Career Prospects After Job Loss ... 1
1.1.1 A Growing Body of Plant Closure Literature ... 1
1.1.2 Reemployment ... 3
1.1.3 Job Search ... 8
1.1.4 Retirement, Exit from the Labor Force and Repeated Job Loss ... 10
1.2 Type and Quality of the Post-displacement Job ... 12
1.2.1 Reemployment Sectors and Occupations ... 12
1.2.2 Determinants of Post-displacement Wages ... 14
1.2.3 Changes in Job Quality ... 16
1.3 Sociability and Well-Being ... 18
1.3.1 Coping Strategies on the Household Level ... 18
1.3.2 Sociability ... 19
1.3.3 Subjective Well-Being ... 21
1.4 Our Model of Occupational Transition After Plant Closure and Hypotheses ... 24
References ... 26
2 A Tailor-Made Plant Closure Survey ... 35
2.1 Plant Closure Data as a Way to Avoid Selection Bias ... 35
2.2 Sampling ... 36
2.3 Survey Bias ... 40
2.4 Data Collection... 42
2.5 Identifying the Presence of Bias in Our Data... 47
2.6 Constructing a Non-experimental Control Group ... 52
2.7 Limits ... 54
2.8 The Institutional Context of the Swiss Labor Market ... 55
2.9 Aggregate Unemployment ... 57
References ... 58
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3 Reemployment or Unemployment ... 63
3.1 Labor Market Status Two Years After Displacement ... 64
3.2 Labor Market Status by Socio-demographic Characteristics ... 68
3.3 Determinants of Reemployment ... 71
3.4 Conclusion... 78
References ... 79
4 Early Retirement and Exit from the Labor Force ... 81
4.1 Transition into Early Retirement ... 81
4.2 Determinants of Early Retirement ... 83
4.3 Exit from the Labor Force ... 88
4.4 Conclusion... 89
References ... 90
5 Job Search Strategies and Unemployment Duration ... 91
5.1 Job Search Strategies ... 91
5.1.1 The Application Process ... 92
5.2 Other Strategies of Job Search: Commuting, Training, Temporary Jobs... 95
5.3 Unemployment Duration ... 97
5.4 Conclusion... 104
References ... 105
6 Sectors and Occupations of the New Jobs ... 109
6.1 Sectors ... 110
6.2 Sectors in Which Workers Were Reemployed ... 110
6.3 Determinants of Sectoral Change... 112
6.4 Determinants of Switching into Different Subsector in the Services ... 115
6.5 Occupations of Reemployment ... 118
6.6 Determinants of Occupational Change ... 122
6.7 Conclusion... 124
References ... 125
7 Wages ... 127
7.1 Wage Distribution Before and After Displacement ... 128
7.2 Average Wage Change ... 129
7.3 Distribution of Wage Change ... 133
7.4 Determinants of Wage Change ... 135
7.5 Conclusion... 140
References ... 141
Contents
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8 Job Quality ... 143
8.1 Contract Type ... 144
8.2 Subjective Job Security ... 146
8.3 Skill Match ... 147
8.4 Job Authority ... 149
8.5 Job Satisfaction ... 151
8.6 Conclusion... 155
References ... 155
9 Linked Lives and Well-Being ... 157
9.1 Coping Strategies ... 158
9.2 Sociability ... 161
9.3 Subjective Well-Being ... 165
9.4 Unemployed Workers’ Changes in Life Satisfaction ... 168
9.5 Reemployed Workers’ Change in Life Satisfaction ... 170
9.6 Changes in Workers’ Health ... 173
9.7 Conclusion... 174
References ... 176
Conclusion ... 179
Robust Job Prospects in Manufacturing ... 180
Polarization in Labor Market Experiences ... 180
Old Age as the Main Disadvantage ... 182
Tackling the Plight of Older Workers ... 184
Annex ... 187
Tables ... 187
Figures ... 189
References ... 191
Index ... 193
Contents
